Billardiera named after Jacques Julien de La Billardiere (1755-1834), a 19th century French botanist who visited Western Australia and Tasmania with D'Entrecasteaux expedition and named many new plant species. Sericophora from the Latin 'sericeus'meaning silky and 'floris'meaning flower.

Distribution:

Endemic to South Australia. Found scattered across Yorke Peninsula and Eyre Peninsula.

Status:

Native. Rare in South Australia.

Plant description:

Climbing perennial shrub with copper coloured stems covered in fine hairs. Leaves are green, hairless on top and covered in fine hairs on the underside. Flowers are yellow, bell-shaped and covered in white hairs at the base, appearing between August and December.

Fruit type:

A cylindrical berry covered in hairs, green and hard when immature and soft and dark purple when ripe.

Seed type:

Dark brown or black flat reniform seeds about 2mm long and covered in grooves.

Embryo type:

Linear underdeveloped.

Seed collecting:

Pick mature fruits by hand, those that are soft or have dark brown/black seeds inside.

Seed cleaning:

Clean ripe fruits as soon as possible as it will go hard if left to dry too long. Rub the fruits in water with your hands to dislodge the seeds from the fruit. Pour the mixture into a sieve to separate the seeds from the flesh. Place the wet seeds in a tray lined with paper and leave to dry for 1 to 2 days. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.

Seed viability:

From two collections, the seed viability were high, ranging from 85% to 100%.

Seed germination:

This species has physiological dormancy that need to be overcome for the seed to germinate.

Seeds stored:

Location

No. of seeds(weight grams)

Numberof plants

Datecollected

Collection numberCollection location

Datestored

% Viability

Storagetemperature

BGA MSB

2390 (6.24 g)1550 (4.05 g)

12

29-Nov-2006

DJD580Yorke Peninsula

1-Aug-2007

85%

-18°C

BGA

890 (2.99 g)

4

11-Dec-2008

TST693Eyre Peninsula

20-Jul-2009

100%

-18°C

Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.